Over twenty-five communities in North America are creating eco-industrial parks as a new paradigm for environmentally sensitive economic development. These developments promise job creation, resource efficiency, and reduced municipal waste burdens through carefully designed and applied industrial ecology principles. This report seeks to understand the evolution of eco-industrial park development within the context of the emerging movement of sustainable development and the science of industrial ecology. It offers examples of operating and potential park developments and the various strategic and design approaches taken by different communities. This report analyzes the policy, financing, information and management barriers inherent in their design. It also concludes that further implementation of eco-industrial parks is unlikely without integrated, flexible, and cooperative local, state, and federal environmental regulations, funding mechanisms and economic development policies.
